Acts 12
COMMENTARY:
: 5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. (1618 “without ceasing” [ektenes] means to stretch out, urgent, fervent, intent, more earnestly, constantly, unceasing intense activity or continuously.)
DEVOTION: Have you ever been involved in an all-night prayer meeting? One of the groups I have been a part of have annually had an all-night prayer meeting at camp. It was great to see individuals come and pray for the requests of all those at camp. The teen group was the one who would take the wee morning hours to pray. There would be thirty or so teenagers praying for the requests that had been written.
In our churches we sometimes have all night prayer meetings before a special event. This is something that should be happening more as we see the day approaching for the LORD’S return.
Why should we have all night prayer meetings? God already knows all about what is happening on this earth. HE knows our needs. Why should we bother?
Christ set the example with HIS prayer times. The early church set the example with their prayer times. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Prayer is one of the ways we show the world that we are dependent on God. HE wants us to show dependence. We are not to be independent.
Here we have a time when they had a special prayer meeting for Peter who was in prison about to be killed by Herod. There was a period of time between his arrest and his trial, because of the feast of unleavened bread or Passover. In some of our translation we have the word “Easter.” During this time period the church was praying urgently. They were constantly praying. They wanted Peter to be delivered.
The LORD answered their prayers. Even though, when Peter appeared at the gate of the house of Mary, Rhonda didn’t open the gate. When she told the people praying that he was at the gate, they thought she was crazy. She insisted and they told her she was seeing a ghost.
When he finally got in they were amazed that the LORD had answered their prayer. Remember that this is the third time Peter was in jail. The LORD delivered him each time.
The LORD is still able to answer our prayers. When there is something important to pray for, do we do it earnestly? Prayer is one of the disciplines of the faith and it needs to be practiced continuously. Are we praying without ceasing daily for HIS guidance in our life? Are we praying for the salvation of our family member and friends?
When people ask us to pray do we do it immediately with them? Or do we say we will pray and forget? Many write me that they are praying for the requests in each devotional. I praise the LORD for these individuals as we have seen MANY answers to prayer. God has been so good to this ministry.
CHALLENGE: We should not be astonished when God answers prayer. We should be thankful. HE is able.
: 22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. (2019 “shout” [epiiphoneo] means cry, to call out to, to utter aloud, to speak loudly, to respond, or exclaim.)
DEVOTION: There are some who believe that a political leader can be their savior. It is a wrong belief. They put all their trust in a human being to change their circumstances. Human beings have one thing in common, they are looking out for themselves more times than not. When the say things that tickle the ears of those around them it is because their motive is to get reelected or they have an agenda that they are hiding from most.
The people in Judea wanted to see those who believed in Jesus put to death. The people in the area wanted the Roman government to honor them over this new group on the scene.
On a certain day they planned an event to make Herod feel good about their love for him. They had a special celebration. Herod was arrayed in royal apparel and sat upon a throne. The people listened to him speak and stated that it was “the voice of a god.” They were wrong. They were worshiping a man instead of the one true God in heaven. They were supposed to be followers of Jehovah but HE didn’t seem to please as much as a human man could.
The same thing can happen in our world. People can count on a man in political power to give them all that they want. They might receive some benefits but the compromises are great. The benefits will run out when the person they are worshiping finally shows his true colors and takes all the benefits away plus some.
We are not to worship or count on man to provide for our needs.
CHALLENGE: We are to take them to the LORD and wait for HIM to provide. Human political leaders are only looking out for their needs more times than not.
: 24 But the word of God grew and multiplied. (3056 “word” [logos] means sayings, account, speech, embodies a concept or idea, teaching, statement, gospel, exhortation or message.)
DEVOTION: Jesus is called the “Word.” In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and was God. HE was the one who was sent with a message from God to the people of the earth. HE went especially to the children of Israel with HIS message of salvation. They didn’t want anything to do with HIM.
The Jewish leaders were satisfied with their relationship with the Roman Empire and didn’t want anything to change. They thought they had it so good. It was somewhat like the children of Israel in the wilderness when they wanted to return to Egypt because they thought they had it so good as slaves. They were not thinking straight.
Now we have the church founded on Jesus Christ. The believers were sharing the truth of the message of Jesus Christ. It was a message of salvation for all those who believed.
There was persecution from Herod at the time. He killed the brother of John. James was killed and the church was concerned. Herod took Peter and put him in prison. The church held an, all night prayer meeting for him. He was delivered.
What happened to the faith of the believers? It increased and the church grew because of the persecution. It not only grew but it multiplied. It wasn’t growing one by one but in groups. People realized that God was working and they wanted to be a part of it.
Today God still answers prayers. People in many countries are under persecution and yet the church is growing in spite of the persecution. The areas where there is little persecution seem to be the areas where the Christians are satisfied with just living life without witnessing to others. They seem real relaxed in their Christianity.
It is wrong but it seems to be happening. The Christians seem to want to be entertained in church rather than cause the church to grow through the study of the Word of God and prayer. Many churches have no prayer meeting unless there is a special need. The only prayer that goes on between Sundays is happening when those few on the prayer chain of the church get a call about a special need.
We need Christians who really believe in prayer and see God answering prayer on a regular basis because they are praying for specific needs and seeing the LORD working. We need churches who believe in weekly prayer times together.
CHALLENGE: Start a prayer meeting in your home if there is none in your church. Support the prayer meeting in your church with your attendance. These are trying times. Prayer is the answer!!!!
: 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. (4137 “fulfilled” [pleroo] means complete, be full, to make full, to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally, to come or bring to a finish or an end, or complete.)
DEVOTION: Remember that Barnabas went to Antioch to help the Christians there as their church was growing. He went to find Saul in Tarsus to help him with the ministry. Together they exhorted the people in the truth of the Word of God. They gave the people examples of what it meant to grow in the LORD.
They observed the church grow in Antioch and they were called Christians first in Antioch.
The people found out about a famine that was going to happen in Jerusalem and they wanted to provide money to help those who were believers there while they were going through the famine. They took up a collection to send to Jerusalem. They chose Barnabas and Saul to bring the offering to the church in Jerusalem. So after a time period Barnabas and Saul left Antioch to bring the money to Jerusalem. They had completed their ministry there for a time period.
Remember that anything outside of Jerusalem was considered a mission field for the disciples. The church in Jerusalem wanted people to go out and train others in the ministry. They would send out Barnabas and Saul again to start new churches wherever they went.
On their next missionary journey, they were going to take a young man named John with a surname Mark. We will learn more about him as we continue our study of the growth of the church in the first century.
Our responsibility as a church is to send out others to places that need churches and growth in the LORD. There might be churches in some countries but they are not being trained well in the LORD. We have a responsibility to train church leaders to be better instructors in the Word of God.
This ministry is being used to train new leaders in other countries in their understanding of the Word of God. We receive emails weekly from pastors who want more material or who state that the devotionals are being used of the LORD to train the next generation.
CHALLENGE: Please pray that the LORD will continue to watch over this ministry and its outreach to others.
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